Wendy J. Schiller

Director of the A. Alfred Taubman Center for American Politics and Policy, Alison S. Ressler Professor of Political Science
111 Thayer Street, Room 309
Areas of Expertise Democracy & Elections, Gender, Trade
Areas of Interest United States Congress, political history, gender and politics

Biography

Wendy Schiller is Professor of Political Science, Professor of International and Public Affairs and Director of the Taubman Center for American Politics and Policy at Brown University. She did her undergraduate work in political science at the University of Chicago, served on the staffs of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Governor Mario Cuomo, and then earned her Ph.D. from the University of Rochester. After fellowships at the Brookings Institution and Princeton University, she came to Brown in 1994. She teaches popular courses including, The American Presidency, Introduction to the American Political Process, and Congress and Public Policy.

Among the books she has authored or co-authored are "Inequality Across State Lines: How Policymakers Have Failed Domestic Violence Victims in the United States" (Cambridge University Press), "Electing the Senate: Indirect Democracy before the Seventeenth Amendment" (Princeton University Press), "Gateways to Democracy: An Introduction to American Government "(Cengage), "The Contemporary Congress" (Thomson-Wadsworth) and "Partners and Rivals: Representation in U.S. Senate Delegations" (Princeton University Press). She has also published articles in the American Journal of Political Science, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Studies in American Political Development and the Journal of Politics.

Schiller has been a contributor to MSNBC, NPR, CNN.com and Bloomberg News. She provides local political commentary to the Providence Journal, WPRO radio, RIPBS A Lively Experiment and is the political analyst for WJAR10, the local NBC affiliate in Providence.   

Research

Wendy Schiller’s scholarship focuses on representation in American politics. Most recently, she has worked with Charles Stewart III on the Senate Elections Data Project 1871-1913, which is a study of the indirect election of US Senators in state legislatures (1871-1913) and the impact of the adoption of the 17th Amendment. The study is the basis of our book, Electing the Senate: Indirect Democracy before the Seventeenth Amendment (Princeton University Press, 2014).

Publications

2023

Inequality Across State Lines: How Policymakers Have Failed Domestic Violence Victims in the United States, co-authored with Kaitlin Sidorsky.

2014

Electing the Senate: Indirect Democracy before the Seventeenth  Amendment, co-authored with Charles Stewart III.

2013

"U.S. Senate Elections before the 17th Amendment: Political Party Cohesion and Conflict 1871–1913.” Co-authored with Charles Stewart (MIT) and Benjamin Xiong (Brown University). Journal of Politics 75 No.3: 835-837.

“Resolved the filibuster should be abolished (Con argument).”  (Revised from earlier version) Chapter 14. In Debating Reform: Conflicting Perspectives on How to Fix the American Political System. Eds. Richard J. Ellis and Michael Nelson. CQ Press. 254-262.

Gateways to Democracy:  An Introduction to American Government, Essentials. Co-author with John G. Geer, Jeffrey A. Segal, and Dana K. Glencross. Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
1st Edition, January 2011. (640 pages)
2nd Edition, January 2013 (640 pages)
3rd Edition, January 2015 forthcoming

“The 100th Anniversary of the 17th Amendment: A Promise Unfulfilled?” co-authored with Charles Stewart (MIT). Issues in Governance Studies No. 59:1-12. Washington DC: Brookings Institution

2012

“Howard Baker’s Leadership in the U.S. Senate:  Lessons in Persuasion, Civility, and Success.”  Baker Center Journal of Applied Public Policy Vol. IV, No. 2: 28-48.

2011

"Senate Delegation Dynamics in an Age of Party Polarization." Co-author with Jennifer C. Cassidy. The Forum Vol. 9: Iss. 4, Article 7.

"Development of Congressional Elections" in The Oxford Handbook of the American Congress, Eds. Frances Lee and Eric Schickler. Oxford University Press.

Teaching

POLS 0010 Introduction to the American Political Process

POLS 0820L  Philosophy of the American Founding

POLS 1130 The American Presidency

POLS 2090I American and Comparative Political Behavior

Recent News

This week on Super Tuesday, sixteen states and 1 territory held primaries for the U.S. presidential race, with Joe Biden and Donald Trump winning comfortably. Watson Institute political scientist Wendy Schiller discusses the implications for the November 2024 elections.
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The newly elected Democratic congressman called for action on affordable housing, AI and gun control as he delivered the Noah Krieger ’93 Memorial Lecture at Brown’s Taubman Center for American Politics and Policy.
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